National Proton Beam Therapy Centre to be built at Parkville to treat children with brain cancer

A WORLD-leading $400 million treatment centre will be built at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Parkville to save youngsters who have brain cancer.

EXCLUSIVE: A world-leading $400 million treatment centre will be built in Parkville to save youngsters who have brain cancer.

The National Proton Beam Therapy Centre, at the Royal Children’s Hospital, will also aid ­patients with other inoperable cancers that cannot be treated by existing therapies.

The Andrews Government is set to release details of the project. But the announcement will ignite a fight ­between Victoria and the federal and South Australian governments.

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Premier Daniel Andrews on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, slating a troubled Adelaide proton therapy proposal earmarked for $68 million in federal cash.

Mr Andrews has demanded that the money be diverted to Victoria’s more ambitious plan — a four-storey centre to open by 2023 at the world-­renowned RCH but operated by the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

The Royal Children’s Hospital is set to be home to a centre that will treat youngsters with brain cancer. Picture: Fiona Hamilton

At the heart of it are three 18m-deep concrete bunkers, each housing the latest radiotherapy equipment capable of delivering cancer-killing proton beams to areas of the body that cannot be safely targeted by ­existing cancer treatments.

The Victorian government last year committed $52 million to develop a business case for a National Proton Beam Therapy Centre, but on Saturday refused to discuss costings for its recently finalised plans.

However, industry sources have told the Sunday Herald Sun the government last year briefed potential builders to base their plans on a $150 million two-beam centre, before this year increasing the scope to a $400 million centre capable of treating patients from across the country and New Zealand. The race to build the southern hemisphere’s first proton therapy centre saw South Australia initially promised federal support before questions emerged over its procurement processes.

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Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the Parkville centre was the most robust and advanced proposal. “Malcolm Turnbull needs to ­urgently re-engage Victoria in negotiations around national funding for this vital project,” she said.

As well as providing the latest cancer weapon suited specifically for paediatric brain cancers, the Parkville plans include research areas to lead international development of the proton technology for other cancers. In his letter to Mr Turnbull on Saturday, Mr Andrews questioned the ­financial management of the Adelaide plan and highlighted Parkville’s international standing.

“The Adelaide proposal remains inferior to the Victorian proposal for a number of reasons,” he wrote. “There is an opportunity in the federal Budget to reconsider the $68 million funding allocation and instead fund the Melbourne proposal, given it represents the best value for money.”

A Turnbull Government spokesman last night said Canberra “remains committed” to funding the South Australian plan, put forward a year before the Victorian proposal.

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